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- Anthony Fernandez, Class of '10

Distinguished lecturer to present Three Big Bangs at St. Andrews

Laurinburg, N.C. – Distinguished lecturer and scholar Dr. Holmes Rolston III will present the 2012 John Calvin McNair Lecture on Science and Theology at St. Andrews University on Oct. 16.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin with a dinner at 6 p.m. in the Carol Grotnes Belk Main Room and will be followed by the lecture at 7 p.m. Reservations are required and may be made until Monday, Oct. 8 by contacting rsvp@sapc.edu or calling 910-277-3968. Please include that the reservation is for the McNair Lecture, the names of the attendees and any special meal requirements. Limited seating is available.

Rolston, university distinguished professor and professor of philosophy Emeritus at Colorado State University, will present Three Big Bangs: Matter-Energy, Life, Mind.

“At the primordial big bang, matter-energy appears, with the remarkable capacity to generate heavier elements and complexity,” Rolston said. “Life explodes on Earth, with DNA discovering, storing, and transferring information, escalating biodiversity and biocomplexity. The human genius is radically novel, hyper-immensely complex. Ideas pass cumulatively from mind to mind. Those at the center of complex caring intelligence wonder, Is there sacred Logos in and with such breakthrough creativity?”

Rolston has written eight books, including Three Big Bangs: Matter-Energy, Life, Mind; Genes, Genesis and God: Philosophy Gone Wild; Environmental Ethics; and, Science and Religion: A Critical Survey. He has written chapters in 80 additional books and more than 100 articles. His work has been cited and discussed in print by scholars more than 2,000 times. An intellectual biography, Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III, was written by Christopher J. Preston.

Rolston has served as a consultant with more than two dozen conservation and policy groups, including the U.S. Congress and a Presidential Commission. He is a member of the Working Group on Ethics of the World Conservation Union. He is a founder and the associate editor of Environmental Ethics, a refereed professional journal. His work has received critical notice in The Christian Science Monitor and The Los Angeles Times, among other national papers. He has published in The Denver Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Newsday.

He was awarded the Templeton Prize in Religion in 2003, with the award presented by Prince Philip in Buckingham Palace. He was awarded the Mendel Medal by Villanova University in 2005 and delivered the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in 1997-1998.

Rolston has spoken as a distinguished lecturer on all seven continents, including the 28th Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College authorized by the Nobel Foundation.

The McNair lecture was established by the 1857 will of John Calvin McNair who asked that “the object of which lecture(s) shall be to show the mutual baring of Science and Theology upon each other….” This is the seventh lecture hosted by St. Andrews, with Dr. Owen Gingerich, the Rev. Dr. Nancey Murphy, Dr. Robert J. Russell, Dr. Philip Clayton, Dr. Francisco J. Ayala and Dr. Marcelo Gleiser presenting the previous lectures.

The series was previously hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and included such noted speakers as Stephen J. Could, John C. Polkinhorne, Ian G. Barbour, Jr. Robert Oppenheimer, Charles A. Coulson and John Dewey.

About St. Andrews University

St. Andrews is a student and teaching-focused University which offers a broad range of undergraduate majors in a curriculum that is global in scope and practical in its application. St. Andrews has added a first graduate level program with a Masters in Business Administration. The quality of the St. Andrews educational experience has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report, The Princeton Review, and GI Jobs among others. In addition to its academic programs, the University has an acclaimed university press, men’s and women’s athletic teams, a nationally competitive equestrian program, and an award-winning pipe band. St. Andrews is a branch of Webber International University, Florida. Further information may be obtained by visiting the University’s website www.sapc.edu, calling 800-763-0198, or sending an e-mail to info@sapc.edu.